I'm having an issue viewing raster data stored in SDE 10.1(Windows SQL Server R2) from Desktop 10.0. When I attempt to port the raster data into 10.0 I get the error "Invalid raster dataset. Failed to create raster layer." I can import and view the raster data using Desktop 10.1 without problem.

I've been looking for a fix, but unfortunately this appears to be a generic error message with many potential causes. Has anyone else experienced this problem? Is there an incompatibility between SDE 10.1 and Desktop 10.0 or is there an issue with my data/SDE setup.

I could not reproduce this with ArcGIS Desktop 10.0 SP5. Let's test to check that it's nothing specific with the raster datasets. Can you import the attached TIFF and see if you can view it in ArcGIS Desktop 10.0?

The single band works as well. It is just my rasters that don't work. I'm trying to use .tif images of USGS quads. There isn't anything unusual about them that I know of, other than being 10+ years old.

The .tifs average between 5-10MB. I tried to attach one, but it was too large.

To create the raster dataset, I am using ArcCatalog 10.1.1, right clicking the database connection, selecting Import and then Raster Datasets. I leave the keyword blank and I do not make any changes to the environments. So far all of the rasters have imported successfully and are viewable from ArcCatalog 10.1 and ArcMap 10.1. It is only from the 10.0.5 clients that I get the Invalid raster message.

I have also tried importing the raster from ArcCatalog 10.0 into SDE 10.1. The rasters import correctly, but are not viewable in 10.0 or 10.1.

Export the TIFF to a new TIFF with JPEG compression by right-clicking on the TIFF in ArcMap > Data > Export Data. If the zipped file is still larger than 1 MB, you can zoom into a smaller extent and when you are exporting the raster, using the steps above, choose the option 'Data Frame (Current)' for the Extent.

I believe you may have found a bug. I was able to reproduce this issue with your data, and another raster I had that contains a colormap. I would recommend following up with Tech Support so they can properly log this issue.

You can use a workaround. Instead of importing the raster by right-clicking on the geodatabase > Import > Raster Dataset, use the Copy Raster tool. With this tool there is the option 'Colormap to RGB'. This will retain the same colors, but your image will now be a 3-band raster dataset. I tested this and was able to view the ArcSDE 10.1 raster dataset successfully in ArcGIS Desktop 10.0.